I want to talk about two different things that I think are very similar. I hope by the end, you see how close they really are to each other.
So often we think that we have to wait until we get our lives under control before we can begin to have a relationship with Christ. That couldn’t be further from the truth, in fact, it’s pretty much completely backwards. The way we get our life under control is by developing a relationship with Christ. But that’s really a misnomer too, because the closer our relationship is with Christ, the more control we’ll hand over to Him. So, we might get things under control but it won’t necessarily be our control.
Jesus wants us just as we are.
He wants us with all of our sins and all of our imperfections.
He wants us to turn to Him for help in our lives.
He wants to do all the things we haven’t been able to do on our own.
He wants to heal our addictions and end the torment we put ourselves through trying to figure out where we belong.
Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in? Like no matter what, you didn’t quite belong? Even when you were part of the crowd, you didn’t really belong? Maybe in your family, you felt like you were one step removed from everyone else? You may have even visited churches that made you feel that way. The thing to remember is, being part of a crowd or group isn’t the important part, being part of God is the important part. Being part of God is how you will feel like you belong. We don’t have to spend our time trying to fit in, trying to do the things that will make us well liked by the crowd. If we follow what God asks of us, we will have a place to fit in.
It’s nice when people like us and when we have friends that we enjoy spending time with. Friends that enjoy some of the same things that we do. There’s nothing wrong with that but when we spend our time trying to look just right or act just right so that those around us will accept us and love us, we are missing the point.
A couple points actually.
If we fit in with Jesus first, we will find ourselves fitting in with those that will really matter. Hopefully, they will be the kind of people who understand that God, though He made us all in His image, made us all just a little unique because that’s the way He wanted us. He didn’t want cookie cutter people or cookie cutter followers. He wants us to be the people He made us to be.
That’s the difference between God and a lot of those people we find ourselves hanging around with. God wants us just like we are, a lot of those around us want us to be more like them. The more we are like them, the more comfortable they are with themselves. By being like them or by imitating them, it might sound strange, but we ease their qualms about them being their own special self.
That might be good for them but it can be disastrous for us. By imitating them, we lose those parts of us that make us special. We lose the specialness that God made us with. That means that we are taking what God has given to us and only us, and throwing it aside because, more than honoring God and His gifts, we want to fit in with those we see as important in our lives. We don’t realize that the most important person in our lives is God.
Even though God wants us to turn to Him for help with our imperfections, He also wants us to be the unique people He made us. God didn’t make the imperfections, we acquired those on our own along the way. He did make each of us a little different, a little special and He wants us to hold on to that. We should give God our imperfections and sins and hang on to those ways that He made to make us special.
It’s not about waiting until we fit in with God’s people, it’s about bringing your special self back TO God. That’s how we will fit in. That’s how we will find that place where we truly belong.